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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Treading on eggshells. Aggressive father. Full post

6 replies

TreadingOnEggshells · 21/11/2012 17:21

May be potentially outing myself but I just need to get this out. Also NCed.

For as long as I can remember my dad has been very aggressive. The tiniest thing would set him off. My parent's friends are aware of what he is like, but haven't seen the full extent.

When I was younger I was very aware that my dad was someone I should be scared of. He used to work for a job that would mean he would be in and out of the house all day, there was no routine to when he would be back, sometimes he'd be gone for an hour, sometimes all day. All I know is that when he came home the atmosphere would change, my mum would shrink and me and my sister would be expected to be silent.

There are two occasions that have etched in my memory that have made me hate him. Strong word but it's true. I have no love for him. I hate him. I hate how our family changes when he comes in the room.

The first is when he came home from a bike ride, he put his bike away and then just as the door was closing I saw him kick Mum in the stomach, I was about 7 and I wanted to throw up. My mum acted like nothing had happened but I could see for the next couple of days that she was in pain.

Another is when my mum was ill. She went to bed. This was very unusual, she would never leave me or my sister alone with him, so even at a young age I knew she must have been very ill. My sister is 5 years younger than me and at this time was just a toddler. He told me I could get myself a bowl of ice cream. I did it but couldn't get it back in the freezer. He screamed in my face and dragged me to my room by my hair. This woke my mum up and I could hear them arguing and my sister crying. Then my mum walked out. My dad dragged me out of my room and dragged me back downstairs. My sister was screaming. He told me to put her coat and shoes on, which I couldn't. She was wriggling and I was panicking but he kept screaming. Then he grabbed her and grabbed my arm and we went looking for my mum. We found her and she was on her way back home. She was limping and she'd been crying.

These are the only two times that I remember him hitting my mum but there a few times where I remember him being overly physical with me. Never in a sexual way but always in an intimidating way. He is very advanced in martial arts and would often use locks on me and my mum. Making us feel very helpless.

When I was 5 my mum had a job but my dad expected her to work FT and somehow be a SAHM and his personal slave. She never went back after maternity leave and stayed at home to look after the family. When he comes home from work he grills her about what she has done in the day. The only thing he isn't controlling about is money. He gives mum all the money but expects pocket money, regardless of if she can't afford it.

If I was ever naughty when I was with my mum she would smack me on the leg, tell me why and that would be that. I know people disagree with smacking but it hasn't affected me at all. It made me aware of consequences. But my dad would often scream at me, slap me across the face, make me stand with my nose on the wall "ground me for a year".

He lies all the time. He used to say me and my sister were fighting and use it as an excuse to hit us. He gets into rages for no reason and makes up lies to justify them. He lies about things that have happened in the day. For example, a couple of weeks ago he came home from the shop and said he had been punched. Another time he was out walking the dog and said our dog was attacked by another dog so he threatened to kick the dog to death and stab the owner.

He is very anal about some things. If anyone sits in his chair he gets very annoyed. Until I was 16 I was allowed one bath a week. On any other day, when I wasn't getting a bath I wasn't allowed more than 20 mins in the bathroom or he'd be furious so I often had to go to school with dirty hair as I had no time to wash it.

As I got older I started to stand up to him, as did my mum. He's calmed down a lot but he is still so angry. We see him walking up the path. He has this lunging walk, which shows he is angry. He's done it today. He's come home and he's had a bad day at work. We all know this but he's trying to justify his anger by saying it's because I'm in my pyjama's so I've "done fuck all all day". I've been up since 7.30, been to college, been shopping and have been applying for jobs but he doesn't believe me. My mum's friend is here and he's saying that her husband should beat up her daughter's ex partner because he beats her up. He's saying he'd lie in court.

He says racist things, on purpose to make me mad, he tries to make me mad because he's spoiling for a fight. He lies about "vidoes the guys in work have shown him". Where "a black man and girl beat up and steal a white girls clothes". Our town is very multicultural. He has claimed in the past that a group of muslims threatened to rape a white girl "because it's a muslim town now". It just infuriates me and I always take the bait.

I don't know what I hope to gain from posting, but I just need to get it out. Anybody feel like a chat? :(

OP posts:
whereismytoenail · 21/11/2012 17:57

Hi there

your dad sounds pretty similar to mine......

i also grew up not knowing what sort of mood he would be in everyday,at home there was me DM and DB , he was physically abusive to both of them he also was to me on a few occasions but they had it a lot worse than me physically, he s also mentally and emotionally abusive

i also have memorys of waking up and my DM having a black eye,she would say she was sick through the night and passed out and hit her face on the bath this was regular i can remember this from being about 5

he would come in after work and rip the tv remote out of my hand and say im not watching this shit and turn it over , no hello or hows your day been

he would also give me films to watch and say its something you will like, it would be a film about slaughtering animals, he knew how much i loved animals and still do and i will never forget those images ,i was only about 7-8 years old

when i was 16 he badly beat up my DM and try to throw her out of an upstairs window,he also went for me but i managed to get away, we left for a while but lended up going back

a few years ago my DB who is quite a lot older than me , told me my dad (its his SD ) had physically abused him as a child, i broke down when he told me the sickening things he had done

i no longer speak to my dad , its been 10 months now ,its been hard but i also feel like i have a weight lifted off my shoulders, my DM is still with him and i beg her to leave him but she wont

how old are you?
are there any signs of your mum leaving?
is there no way u can move out with friends etc

i believe my dad is a Sociopath

feel free to PM me if u would like to talk, u dont have to put up with this

TreadingOnEggshells · 21/11/2012 18:04

There's no way of me leaving atm, but hopefully I will be able to soon.
I don't want to give my age incase I out myself but I'm 17-22.
My mum hates him and has told him to leave, but he doesn't take it seriously as she says it in anger. I've begged her to get rid as the house is in her name but she says she can't. She sleeps on the sofa.

I'm so sorry to hear your dad is like mine. I know how hard it is :(

OP posts:
SolidGoldYESBROKEMYSPACEBAR · 21/11/2012 18:17

This is a horrible way for you to have to live. I would advise you to talk to Women's Aid or the local police DV unit: just because your mother won't protect you doesn't mean that you have no right to seek help on your own account.
In fact, you and your mother together (if she's too frightened to act on her own) could get this horrible man forcibly removed from the house and forbidden to return.

whereismytoenail · 21/11/2012 19:28

i no how hard it is , i tried to leave a few times, lived with friends and a few x parters but unfortunatly the relationships failed and living with friends didnt work out and i always lended up having to go back

i moved out 4 years ago and it was an amazing difference being able to do what i wanted in my own house without the fear of upsetting anyone, my DH is a placid man nothing at all like my dad , i dont no how mine or your DM can live with someone so aggresive for so long but ........ if your DM gets the same treatment as mine does and i did when living at home, my dad pulled us down so much, we were stupid,idiots, unintelligant , anything we had wrong with us (i have a few long term health problems) he would have felt pain and suffering much more than we had ,he even said when my DS was born 3 years ago that he had felt pain worse than being in labour ! so like my DM she feels this is her fate to be with him as he has ground her down for so many years

if there is no way for you to move out at the min then i suggest you try and avoid him as much as possible and try and avoid any conrfontation with him, in the end i found just agreeing with him was the easiest way , i no thats hard too as he was in the wrong and u wont feel like giving in to him

i would definatly have a good think about doing what Solidgold suggets , i no i felt like ringing the police when i was younger but didnt think anyone would believe me

sensesworkingovertime · 21/11/2012 20:12

I think you are all so brave to have survived and still be going through such a nightmare. There must be people out there who can give you help and advice, if they cannot help you directly they will know someone who can. Try these perhaps:-

library
doctor
childline (even if you are not technically a child)
Samaritans
local church
do an internet search on bullying, there will be links
And also previous advice from Solidgold

The worse thing is to feel you are powerless and that you have to put up with it - YOU DON'T. Lots of people on here are thinking of you and supporting you, please take care, you do not deserve any of this crap.

photoretoucher · 21/11/2012 22:19

I'm a soppy old bugger.......just want to hug you both tightly

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